The photo above was taken by John Filo, a student photographer attending Kent State in 1970. At first glance, it is clear that something tragic has occurred. The woman in the center of the frame draws the viewer's attention towards the left, where the body of a college student can be seen lying dead on the gravel. The camera used to take the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph was a Canon EOS 30D. John Filo saw the student protests happening on campus and used the opportunity to try and capture a moment in history.
The woman in the center depicts the terror and duress that the students on campus were feeling at the time. The Vietnam war was raging and college students at Kent State had decided to burn down the draft office. The national guard showed up and decided that the students needed to be put down. The guard fired into the crowd of students and killed 4. Filo took the photo at the exact moment the woman in the center of the frame realized what had happened. The raw emotions of horror and grief displayed on her face and with her body language show just how shocking the violence is.
The individuals in the background of the frame give depth to the horrors happening in front of them. To the left of the frame, there is a man in a white headband looking towards where the shots that struck the man in the ground came from. His face is different from the woman on her knees. He is in shock at what he has just witnessed. His knee is turned outwards as if he is about to walk away but the nature of the situation keeps him from wavering. Filo truly chapters a pivotal moment in the lives of students in the frame.
The woman on the far left of the frame is still processing what she has stumbled upon. Her face shows confusion but also a sense of urgency and curiosity. The horrific thing about this photograph, aside from the body of the male student, is the lack of comprehension that the bystanders seem to have for the current situation. Students in the background are walking to class and chatting as if there isn't a body on the ground in front of them. This can be seen as a metaphor for the Vietnam war and the ignorance that the public had of the horrific conditions of the war. This photo is a protest to the US government's abusive behavior towards populist groups.
The clothes in the photo also help paint the scene. The individuals in the foreground are in traditional 1970’s clothes with bell bottoms and jean jackets. The woman in the center crying over her friend has the word slave written across the front. The rhetoric displayed on her chest shows she was one of the protesters that took down the ROTC building. The terror on her face is not only for the grief over the loss of a friend but also in the terror that her body could have been the one in the street.
